Happy New Year!

It's 'Auld Lang Syne' time

(CNN) -- As we approach the real beginning a new millennium, we will be counting on traditions from at least three of them back to help us celebrate.

Earliest records of a New Year's festival point to Mesopotamia at about 2000 B.C., where the festivities began with the new moon closest to the spring equinox, usually in mid-March. Other ancient observances took place near the autumn equinox or winter solstice.

Even today, there are as many ways to celebrate as there are people.

"We always had a party at some friend's house -- a local party," remembers Hap Newyear, 85, of Harrison, Arkansas. "We liked to go dancing, too."

Hap and his wife, Dorothy, don't do a lot of partying these days, but the Newyears are still planning to stay up past midnight to mark the real beginning of the newest century.

"Lots of people ask me 'How did you get that name?' and 'Where did it come from?' said Newyear with a laugh. "And I say 'Well, I had a grandfather.'"

A father too.

And Father Time is marching toward 2001. So put on your dancing shoes and join the party.